The popular Hindu festival of Holi is endowed with a lot of spiritual significance. Holi is a social, religious and cultural festival celebrated by the Hindus on a grand scale. Holi marks the end of the unwelcoming days of winter and the happy days of spring. The change of season also adds colors, vibrancy and merriment to our lives. When our families and friends prepare to celebrate the joyful festival in a colorful and delicious way, let us stay geared up to the festivities by knowing the date, time and puja procedure of this wonderful celebration.
Holi 2022 date and time
Holi is marked on the calendar on the last full moon day in the month of Phalguna (February – March). In 2022, Holi falls on Friday, March 18. The purnima tithi starts at 01:29 pm on March 17, 2022 and ends at 12:46 pm on March 18, 2022.
Holika Dahan event on the eve of Holi
On the eve of Holi, Holika Dahan is an important ritual staged by all the households of a village or town together in a commonplace. The day and date of Holika Dahan in 2022 is Thursday, 17th March 2022. The duration of the most suitable Muhurat for Holika dahan is for 1 hour and 10 minutes. It is highly beneficial to do the ritual only within this time. The Muhurat for Holika Dahan in 2022 is between 9:20 pm and 10:31 pm on Thursday, March 17, 2022.
The preparations for Holika dahan must happen well in advance, preferably a few days before Holi so that everything is up and ready without any last minute hurries and hassles.
Before Holika Dahan, take a bath and arrive at the place of Holika with the puja materials. Sit facing north or east. Make the idols of Prahlad and Holika. As per the tradition, the idol of prahlad is made with non-combustible material and the idol of Holika is made with combustible material. The idols are arranged inside the pyre and firewood, and other combustible materials are heaped around the idols.
During Holika Dahan, offer prayers and puja to Lord Narasimha and go around the pyre seven times. While circumambulating the burning pyre, throw flowers, cotton, jaggery, moong, turmeric, coconut, gulal, batasha, seven types of grains and other crops into the fire as offerings. Pray for the welfare of your family, friends and the world. Sing happily and dance around the pyre with everyone accompanied by the traditional Holika Dahan songs. Symbolically, sacrifice your negative qualities at the fire of Holika Dahan and as per popular beliefs, your prayers during this time will be divinely fulfilled.
Holi puja and celebrations
Holi Puja can be done on Friday, March 18, 2022 and all the celebrations can happen on this day during the purnima tithi that will end around 12:46 pm.
Holi puja follows different kinds of procedures followed in different traditions. The most common practice is to arrange the idols of Radha and Krishna on the altar, decorate them with colorful costumes and jewels and offer puja and a chosen range of delicacies as offerings. The whole family is gathered around the altar singing the chants of Krishna and Radha and praying together for the welfare of the family. At the end of the puja, sweets and other eatables are distributed to the members gathered.
The festival of colors happens during Holi and people spray colors and colored waters on others. To ensure that the colors you spray are not harmful, buy only eco-friendly colors. Share the joy of Holi with all and pray for peace, prosperity and blessings for the entire world.
